Denver and the West

Sandoval: 25 arrests, 5 DUIs, a dead passenger, and driver's still not locked up

a long list of chances

Sharon Watkins sat through the Jefferson County courtroom sentencing of Shane Hoffart, the motorcycle driver whose crash killed her daughter, Natasha Michaud. "Whose daughter is he going to kill next time?" she asked. Hoffart was sentenced to four years in prison but could be out in less than two.
( John Prieto, The Denver Post
)

PUEBLO — Adrian Sandoval had been out of jail for six weeks on his fourth drunken driving case when Colorado Springs police tried to stop him for speeding.

Drunk again, he fled, police said. His Chrysler sped down a city boulevard at an estimated 80 to 100 mph, passing other cars until it swerved, struck a guardrail and rolled over and over.

Sandoval and Nicolas Aguilar were thrown from the car.

Sandoval lived. Aguilar died.

The number of days Sandoval was ordered to spend in prison for pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in his fifth Colorado drunken driving case?

Zero.

In a plea bargain, he was sentenced to two years' work release in May. He spends his days working at a construction job in Pueblo, his hometown, his nights in a building on the mental hospital campus in Pueblo.

Sandoval's lawyer and the case prosecutor agreed that in a trial, it would have been hard to prove who was driving the car. Yet four months later, the prosecutor expresses regret that the judge accepted a no-prison deal.

Aguilar was 27. He left behind two sons, then 9 and 4. How much do they miss him? At Christmas they decorate a tree at his grave. They go there to take him candy and to reprise their roles in children's plays.

Aguilar's younger brother retreated to his room, crying uncontrollably at the news of Nicolas' death, and has been unable to talk about him for two years. Aguilar's father found he could not face going to work without the son who worked beside him for nine years. He sold his general contracting business of 30 years to his partner.

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"Nick's whole life is in a big rubber bin," said Yolanda Aguilar, his mother. "His sons go through his stuff. They smell his clothes, they look at his pictures, and they just repeat memories — because there's no new memories."

She and her husband waited two years after their son's death for the judicial decision in El Paso County that spared his killer from prison. "We were surprised," she said. "After we found out about his record, we thought he was going to do prison time."

When Sandoval was sentenced in May, he had been arrested 25 times since 1997, state records show. His criminal history listed seven alcohol cases: five for drunken driving, two others for underage drinking.

Except for the vehicular homicide, all of Sandoval's arrests were in Pueblo County. There, judges gave him second chances again and again. He skipped court dates on drunken driving charges. He ignored court orders to enroll in alcohol treatment and education programs, going in and out of jail for defiance, until those orders were dismissed.

Now he gets another chance.

At his sentencing, Sandoval apologized to the Aguilar family and asked the judge to let him keep supporting his fiancee and four children.

"I've changed. I don't drink," he said. "All I do is work and provide for them." He declined to be interviewed.

Piling up arrests

In Pueblo, Sandoval was first stopped for drunken driving 12 years ago, at the age of 17. In a plea bargain, the DUI charge was dropped. He admitted to underage drinking and driving without insurance, and the judge granted a deferred sentence.

In the next two years, Sandoval was ticketed or arrested for possessing alcohol twice more, along with other charges. Then in February 2002, at the age of 22, he was again arrested for driving drunk.

That July, he was sentenced to 60 days in jail with work release, plus alcohol education and therapy. The work-release program reported he violated its rules his first day. A month later he was arrested for driving drunk again. Twice in the next seven months, the probation department reported that Sandoval never started alcohol education or therapy.

His August 2002 drunken driving case followed a pattern similar to his February 2002 drunken driving case. He pleaded guilty in October to a second offense of driving while ability impaired. The judge ordered 60 days of in-home detention, Antabuse, alcohol education and therapy, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and random blood and urine tests.

The in-home detention program reported that Sandoval never showed up. The probation department reported again that Sandoval never went to alcohol counseling and had no record of Antabuse or AA meetings. Sandoval pleaded for an extension, saying he had been in and out of jail and had done court-ordered community service. The judge granted an extension.

Six months later the probation department reported the same results. Yet after Sandoval was jailed on a warrant in October 2004, the county court closed the case, noting that probation was "terminated unsuccessfully."

In April 2006, a Pueblo police officer responding to a "shots fired" report saw a green Honda Civic run a stop sign, narrowly missing his patrol car.

The officer immediately recognized the driver: Sandoval.

When the officer tried to stop him, Sandoval drove the wrong way down Main Street, turned directly into the officer's path, ran another stop sign and headed the other way on Main.

After a brief chase, Sandoval was charged with seven traffic offenses, including his fourth drunken driving case.

This time the judge sentenced him to a year in the county jail, permitting work release. Freed on April 14, 2007, he stayed out of trouble for four weeks.

On May 12, Pueblo police were called to the scene of a possible car-pedestrian accident. The victim, David Garcia, accused Sandoval of hitting him with a car. Sandoval was charged with a felony assault, but that was reduced in a plea to disorderly conduct.

Two weeks later, the night before Memorial Day, Yolanda Aguilar switched on the TV and watched scenes of traffic fatalities in Colorado Springs during a holiday weekend. An ambulance carried off the covered body of one young man.

"I remember saying to myself, the poor families," she said. "Little did I know I was watching Nicolas."

At 12:20 a.m., a Pueblo policeman appeared at the door. He gave her a number to call in Colorado Springs without explaining why.

Aguilar's parents debated what to tell his sons. The boys were the joys of his life. The day before he died, Nicolas had taken them fishing and picnicking in the mountains.

Finally Yolanda and her husband sat the boys down and told them the truth.

"The oldest kid let out the most horrible scream," she said. "The worst scream I've ever heard."

Counting on the judge

Prosecutor Frederick Stein and defense lawyer Marcus Henson both said doubts about who was driving affected the plea.

"That was really the biggest issue," Henson said.

Stein said Aguilar's parents "didn't think they could go through a full-blown trial" in which the defense would suggest Nicolas killed himself.

But "the court had the opportunity to reject the plea agreement," he said. "In a way that's what I wish the court had done."

Judge Robert L. Lowrey accepted the plea, deemed it appropriate and let Sandoval serve his work-release sentence near home in Pueblo.

Yet, "I'm convinced that Mr. Sandoval caused this accident which resulted in the death of Mr. Aguilar," he said in court.

"You've got a history of drinks," he told Sandoval. "You didn't fix it until someone has died."

Lowrey also ordered eight years of probation, alcohol treatment and no drinking.

Adrian Sandoval and Nicolas Aguilar grew up together in a middle-class Pueblo neighborhood. Their families still live a few blocks apart.

At the sentencing, the fathers of both young men spoke.

Virgil Sandoval called Nicolas a good kid who came over for barbecues and sometimes brought his boys to hang out at their home. "We miss him too," he said.

Of his own son, "I've seen such a big change in him. You know, he's got more responsible, more family oriented," Sandoval said. "He seems like he appreciates life a little more. Now he knows how quickly it can all end."

Gene Aguilar gave his son a tearful farewell.

He spoke of the defendant, who "chose to drink and drive and by doing so he has devastated our family forever."

Finally he promised his dead son in court that he and his wife would help their mother bring up his boys.

"We are so sorry you died this way," he said, crying in court. "But we love you, son. We are honored to be your parents. You made us so proud and we will miss you and love you for eternity. And we will do our best to raise your sons."

Yolanda Aguilar said her husband has kept that promise.

"He's the grandpa on the water slide."

At the sentencing

On May 21, El Paso County District Judge Robert L. Lowrey presided over the sentencing of Adrian Sandoval in the crash that killed Nicolas Aguilar. Members of both families spoke at the sentencing. Here are some of their comments:

"My son, since this happened, you know, is sorry that something like this had to happen. I've seen such a big change in him. You know, he's got more responsible, more family oriented. He seems like he appreciates life a little more. Now, he knows how quickly it can all end." Virgil Sandoval, Adrian's father

"Reading the police reports and the autopsy report was the worst thing that we've ever had to read. Multiple facial lacerations, broken rib, skull fracture and part of his brain in a plastic bag are things you only hear in horror movies and will be embedded in our heads for the rest of our lives. The defendant, Adrian, chose to drink and drive and by doing so he has devastated our family forever." Gene Aguilar, Nicolas Aguilar's father

"First of all, I would like to tell the Aguilar family I'm very sorry for what happened. Losing Nick was the hardest thing ever in my life. He was like a brother to me. Twelve years as my best friend, and I miss him. I love him, and I always will. And I'm sorry once again."Adrian Sandoval

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